De'Aaron Fox is having a great season. Through 27 games, Fox is averaging 26.1 PPG, 5.1 RPG, and 6.1 APG on 57.5% true shooting. Those numbers put him in some rarified air relative to the rest of the league, and if he continues at this rate, he should be receiving his second career All-Star nomination this winter.
However, Fox apparently is not playing well enough to avoid criticism, particularly from his head coach Mike Brown.
Mike Brown's challenge to De'Aaron Fox when getting his Kings to embrace the details & lock in:
— Sean Cunningham (@SeanCunningham) December 18, 2024
"Fox has to step up. He's a great player, on the verge of being a superstar...you have a lot of responsibility if you're that guy, and he's that guy. And he can't be a part of not… pic.twitter.com/YU9891LSit
What is Mike Brown talking about?
Why is Brown publicly challenging his star guard like this?
Well, while Fox is playing well, his Sacramento Kings are not. As it stands, the Kings are 13-14 (12th in the Western Conference), and it's not like they aren't talented. Based on their record, the Kings are on pace for 40 wins. However, they have a net rating of a 50-win team (+3.0).
One reason the Kings are so drastically underperforming their net rating is that they are just 6-10 in clutch games (per NBA.com). The Kings have two of the best closers in the NBA in Fox and DeMar DeRozan. So, personnel probably isn't the issue. Instead, their late game blunders could be a byproduct of a lack of execution.
Take, for instance, the Kings' most recent clutch loss against the Denver Nuggets. With 4:10 left in the fourth, the Kings held a ten-point lead (119-109) before letting the Nuggets get back in the game, leaving themselves vulnerable to a Jamal Murray dagger with less than ten seconds left on the clock.
Lapses like this start at the top. If the team's best player isn't executing the scheme to perfection, the rest of the team will fall into similar traps. Brown wants the Kings to stop being on the losing end of these clutch games, and he thinks the first step is to get Fox to keep his focus for all 48 minutes.
It is worth noting that Fox is by far and away the league leader in clutch time points with 68. He is 11 points ahead of the player currently sitting in second place in this category, Jayson Tatum. Nikola Jokic is third with clutch time points. Keep in mind, though, that just because you are scoring a bunch of clutch time points doesn't mean you are executing wonderfully.